Revealed
by ArcaneHex77
Summary: The mole is revealed. Betrayal is revealed. And even deeply hidden feelings are revealed. When Artemis is punching her problems away, Wally decides to join her, and they both end up revealing  not in that way you pervs . Spitfire. One-shot.


**One shot. As in, not planning on going father with this than this one chapter. **

**A possibility for who the mole could be is featured in this short story. I don't know if it's right or close or if it even logically makes sense, but I figured I could turn it into a nice little Spitfire ;)**

**If you do somehow magically know who the mole is (maybe you saw the future episodes in a different country or something IDK) PLEASE I BEG OF YOU do NOT reveal the truth in a review or pm. THE TRUTH SHALL NOT BE REVEALED! Yeah, I just like surprises… and suspense X)**

Artemis

_Whack!_

The cave has a decently sized work-out room. It's filled with rows of treadmills, weight-lifting stations, and other work-out machines.

_Punch. Round house kick._

But my personal favorite is the big black punching bag hanging by a chain from the ceiling in the back corner. It's absolutely perfect for getting a nice workout or blowing off emotional problems, like stress and seething rage.

_Uppercut. Lower left hook._

This is a time to blow off seething rage.

Sweat drips down my head and into my eyes, but I blink it away. My teeth are clenched so tight I think for a second that they might break. But I don't loosen up. I can't. If I do, I might just scream in aggravation and pain.

How could he do this? How could he betray his fellow heroes? His _friends? _I'm not so surprised at _her_, however. I can only expect this kind of behavior from her. But they trusted him! They thought he had their backs! Heck, even I thought he had our backs! But no. It was stupid of me to fall for the deceit of false trust.

I almost laughed at the irony. He was the one who had told _me_ not to hurt _his_ friends.

_*2 hrs 27 min ago*_

"_You cannot trick us, Cheshire. We know Sportmaster was bluffing," Aqualad declared, stepping dangerously closer to the assassin. "We know there really is no mole."_

_I didn't doubt that my sister was grinning evilly underneath that already-smiling mask. "Oh, but there is, poor naïve little heroes."_

"_We're all right here, Cheshire," Robin said coldly, almost challenging her, his bird-a-rangs clutched in his hands, ready to be thrown, "and none of us are traitors."_

_A while ago, I had been afraid that the rest of the team would discover the secrets of my relatives, and think I was the mole, even though I wasn't. It didn't take long for me to figure out Robin already knew about my heritage. Batman knew, that I was certain of, so it was only evident that his protégé would know as well. The little bird promised not to tell the others. He claimed he was waiting on me to tell them myself. When he said he trusted me, despite my bloodlines, I knew that I was safe. My position was secure enough to challenge and take down my sister, unlike the last time I had faced her. Now it was only a matter of time until the time came when I had to tell them myself, or Jade would spill for me, in retribution for standing against her._

_My arrow was set, aiming for the villain. Right now, she wasn't my sister. Right now, she was a stranger. A dangerous stranger, who was threatening me and my new family. I pulled my arrow a tad farther back, tightening the string._

_None of us were traitors. Not me, not Kaldur, Wally, certainly not Robin, not Megan, Conner, or Zatanna. We were a trusting team. A family. _

_Even though we all thought we had proven her wrong, Cheshire still chuckled. "Maybe not any of you…" she didn't finish her sentence as a figure stepped out of the shadows of the alley behind her. In the darkness of the poorly lit city street, I couldn't tell who the person was at first. Then the glow of the streetlight caught his face, and I nearly dropped my arrow._

"_Red Arrow?" Aqualad asked in bewilderment, voicing the question that instantly came to mind. The others were thinking _No, this can't be right! She's tricking us, she's brain washed him! She's blackmailing him! Red Arrow can't be the mole! It's just not possible! _And I only knew this because we still had a mental link established thanks to Miss Martian._

_I expected that kind of betrayed, hurt, and confused reaction from the others. In my head, on the other hand, everything was jumbled, illogical, just not adding up. I wasn't all that hurt by this new realization (I never liked him much anyway), I was just thoroughly confused. How was Red Arrow the mole? He wasn't even on the team! How would he know the information he was supposedly giving to the Shadows? And _why_ is he the mole? What was his gain? What was he benefiting from this?_

_For a half a second, I actually considered the brain-washing thing (despite how much that truly wasn't the Shadow's style), but immediately dismissed it when I saw the slight smirk on his face._

_I hadn't let go of the tension in my bow, so I did the first thing my instincts could come up with. I released my arrow at the bastard._

_Of course, he dodged my arrow effortlessly. I didn't expect to hit him anyway. I just wanted the satisfaction of shooting something at him._

_I was pretty sure the rest of my team -namely three protégés who use to consider this traitor their friend- was pretty much speechless, so I took the liberty of screaming my head off. _

"_How could you? We trusted you! _They_ trusted you!" I gestured to said ex-friends of his. I noticed the youngest member of our family growing intensely pained, and a certain yellow-clad ginger growing intensely pissed off. I couldn't help but defend them, even Wally. Over the time, we had grown passed hating each other. Now it was more of a mutual respect, maybe even a friendship. Robin had always been close to me, though, ever since the Reds attacked the mountain and we saved our teammates together. We had more of a sister-brother-like relationship. I held onto people like that more than anything nowadays._

"_I don't understand," Aqualad said, finding his voice again, the pain clear as crystal in it, "if you were the mole all along, why did you help us fight against the Shadows when you were really working for them?"_

"_I had to make sure you still trusted me, simply to get the ultimate job done," He answered, not affected by the hatred shooting at him from all angles._

"_And what _was_ the ultimate job?" Robin asked. I swear I could practically see him debating over whether to throw his little bird-shaped bombs and treat Red like the traitor he was, or hold onto that sliver of hope that his friend was still there somewhere._

"_Simple. To feed Sportsmaster any and all information about all of you that I could."_

_Every time Red spoke another word, his words from that time in the alley so long ago kept ringing in my head. _"Don't hurt my friends. Don't hurt my friends. Don't hurt my friends."

_The whole thing was just so wrong and twisted that I felt nauseous. _

"_How could you betray us, Red? I thought we were your friends," Kid Flash sounded more pissed than I'd ever heard him before. I didn't know he could handle that level of anger. I had always thought he would be the more sad and emotional one if some kind of traumatizing event like this happened. Anger showed that he was strong, though. In terms of effectiveness if you wanted to battle it out, anger was the stronger way to go._

"_I have my reasons," Red Arrow shrugged with one shoulder._

_Reasons? What freaking reasons could he possibly have for betraying us and working for the Shadows? I was about to voice my curiosities when Cheshire spoke up again._

"_Trust me, he has his reasons…" She said seductively, grabbing him from behind the neck and lifting her mask up just enough so she could pull a full on lip-lock with him._

_After that I really did drop my arrow._

_*Present*_

I nearly vomit just having the image replay in my head. Very few things make me nearly vomit. There has to be strong and obnoxious amounts of shock, anger, and disgust. Believe me, I have plenty of each for both of them.

Red _freaking_ Arrow is _freaking_ dating my _freaking _sister.

_Punch. Kick. Punch. Punch. Punch. Kick. Punch. _I momentarily question the strength of this chain supporting the dummy as it rattles around endlessly after I deliver hit after hit after hit.

That wasn't even the end of the things that went wrong during that mission. We didn't even catch Cheshire. Red Traitor helped her and the other Shadows she was working with that night escape. At least we completed the mission: find out what they were doing in Pittsburg. They were just trying to hack into some secret government facility and blah blah blah whatever. I can't believe I let her get away again! I can't believe Red Arrow hooked up with my sister!

I knew once I had gotten back to the cave that I couldn't go home. I needed to clear my head. Usually I liked training with my bow and arrows to clear my mind, but all that did was remind me more of my father, which reminded me of my sister, which reminded me of that filthy back-stabbing traitor. Needless to say, archery training doesn't cut it at the moment.

As I deliver yet another set of rounds on the poor dangling sack, I hear a voice come from the entrance of the work-out gym. The voice said my name, but I ignored it, to engrossed in my battle with the dummy to answer the intruder.

"Artemis?" I whirl around and nearly kick the person in the head. One second, the voice is at least ten feet away, and the next second, it's right behind me. A red mop of hair ducks under my foot, "Whoa! Tense much?" he asks. I discern how he managed to get so close so fast the second I realize who the intruder is.

"Sorry, Baywatch. But you really shouldn't sneak up on a person in the middle of training."

"I didn't sneak up on you. I said your name twice." I shrug it off and grab my water from the floor, taking a swig with my back to him. "So, uh, are you- you know, okay?"

Am I okay? Really, he just found me beating the crap out of a giant punching bag. Does it seem like I'm okay? Of course, he's probably just trying to get me to voice my thoughts after what had happened. He knows now about my family. The whole team does. I was surprised they didn't freak out as much when they found out. I didn't even need to tell them…

_*2 hrs 23 min ago*_

_Noticing my startled reaction, Cheshire broke the spit-swap, deftly lowering her mask to conceal her face again._

"_What's the matter, sister dear? Jealous?" _

_I heard a gasp, probably from Miss Martian, and Aqualad ask, "Sister?" I didn't take my eyes off of that stupid smiling mask, though. I didn't want her to think she'd weakened me. One of the first rules in survival: never show weakness._

_I laughed bitterly. "Jealous of you? What do you have? A traitor sidekick for a boyfriend and a knife?"_

_I knew the sidekick comment would get a reaction from Red. I saw it on his face, and I swear I thought he almost lunged for me, but I think Jade held him back. _

"_And what do _you_ have, hmm? A little archery set and a team who you're too afraid to tell the truth to?"_

_The sound of a helicopter made me ready another arrow, and suddenly Red Arrow ran back into the darkness of the alley without another word. I shot a gas-arrow at the same time Robin threw two bird-bombs and Miss Martian flew after him in camouflage mode. But I knew it was futile. If he was being trained by the Shadows, he was probably already out of range._

_Cheshire turned to follow him, but stopped and turned back to me. "Oh, and by the way, Artemis, Daddy's not impressed. He says hi, though." And with that she ran off and disappeared. I was tempted to run after her into the alley, but Aqualad had intercepted me._

"_Artemis, why didn't you tell us Cheshire is your sister?" I couldn't tell if he was angry, or just disappointed._

"_I was going to tell you. All of you. When the time was right. I guess it's too late now." I shoved the unused arrow back into my quiver._

_Aqualad turned to Robin. "Did you know about this?"_

_He hesitated to answer, then said, "Yeah. I did."_

"_Dude, why didn't you tell us?" Kid Flash asked, throwing his arms out to the side dramatically._

"_The same reason I don't tell you guys my background. Everyone has a right to a secret identity."_

_Miss Martian came back out of the alley, in full visibility, and landed next to Superboy. "They're gone. Both of them. They hopped on a helicopter a couple rooftops over."_

_There was a brief silence, a tacit wondering of what our next move would be._

"_Artemis," Kid Flash said, his voice a tad gentler than it was before, "What did she mean before when she said 'Daddy isn't impressed'?"_

"_I was wondering the same thing," Aqualad added. All eyes were on me now. I sighed heavily. Let's just get this over with._

"_I might as well tell you. Now's a better time than any, I guess. Yes, Cheshire is my sister. We grew up training together, being taught by our parents, who were both assassins working for the Shadows. A little over six years ago, my mom was arrested. Then, not long after, my sister ran away, leaving me to be trained solo by my dad. After a while I pretty much got sick of him. It wasn't until my mom finally got out of prison and went straight that I completely changed sides. She wanted a better life for me, but Dad only said that she couldn't stop the inevitable. He expected me to go into the family business. I, on the other hand, was sick of people trying to control my life. I broke off all ties with my dad, and he and Cheshire both work for the Shadows now."_

_I let this sink in for a minute. That was the most information I had given about myself to the team._

"_I'm just ganna guess," said Kid Flash, "your dad is…"_

_I nodded, already knowing his guess was correct, "Sportsmaster."_

_*Present*_

I had honestly thought that after that little fiasco, at least somebody, namely Wally, would go berserk and start calling me out. Sure, all except Robin were surprised at first, but they all just… accepted it. I guess since they all already knew I wasn't the mole, there was no reason to question me.

"I'll live," I reply, "I just… needed to blow off some steam. Are _you_ okay?"

His eyes cast downward for a second, as if wondering if he should tell the truth. "Red Arrow's been- _was _my friend for years. Me, him, Rob and Kaldur. We were the sidekicks. I thought we'd always have each other's backs. I never expected one of us to go rogue, you know?"

I nod, showing hat I understand. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't," he says, "don't apologize. None of this was your fault."

A few seconds of silence pass by before either of us say anything else. In a weird way, I feel like this sort of _was_ my fault. I was involved, it was my relations, so shouldn't some of the blame be on me? Either way, I still feel a tad bit of guilt. But hatred for my dad, my sister, and Red Arrow still overrules.

"Want to punch the dummy?" I ask, a sly smile creeping onto my lips.

"Huh?"

I jerk my thumb at the punching bag, and reiterate, "Do you want to punch the dummy?"

He matches my smile, and we both take a position in front of the dangling stuffed dummy. He gives it a blow, and then I take a turn, and we just go back and forth punching our troubles away.

All I hear is the _whack, whack, whack _of our fists and sneakers connecting with the rubber material and our panting. I'm focused completely on the dummy, but I swear I think I spot Wally focusing on me. He's been unusually nice to me the past few months. I can't complain, it's a hell of a lot better than his old, annoying self. I think I actually like this nice Wally better. Not to mention it makes going on missions with him a lot easier.

I give a double blow to the dummy, and spin to give it a nice roundhouse kick, when Wally give another punch to the side, pushing the bag out of the way. My foot misses, and I lose my balance, and collide right into him.

"Ahh!" We tumble to the ground, and I feel my elbow dig into his rib. "You okay?"

"Ugh, I've had worse," he says, rubbing his head where he hit it on the mat.

I realize that I'm literally laying on top of him, and I scramble backwards into a sitting position, feeling extremely awkward and exposed considering I was dressed only in a green sports bra and running shorts. He sits up as well, his hand lingering on the back of his head. Now I know he's looking at me, and I look right back at him. What is he thinking? What's with the look in his eyes? Does he feel bad for me? Does he secretly blame me?

"You know, I never believed you were the mole," he says, eyes locked on me.

"Really? Even… when you hated me?" Surely he must've at least gotten suspicious at some point.

He shakes his head, messing up his floppy red hair, "I was just bummed about Arrow not joining the team… And, for the record… I never really hated you. Maybe I thought you were hostile and annoying, but I never hated you."

"Thanks, Wally," I smile, thinking about how scarcely I ever have a real heart to heart with, well, anybody on the team. I'm almost glad my first one is with Wally.

We sit like that for a little longer, and I break eye contact, looking around the workout room just to escape his stare. Why is he looking at me like that? Maybe he notices our weird, growing friendship too. Maybe he feels the same way, glad that we're turning into friends, rather than enemies.

For a moment, I forget where we are. The still, clean room looks foreign, even though I use it often to run on the treadmill or lift weights. The grey walls seem too bleak. For some reason whenever I really look at this room, I don't remember all the workouts and training I've done in here. I remember running through this room with Robin when the Reds attacked. We ran through here frantically, Robin trying to radio the team, and me trying to telepathically contact Megan. A tornado of fire knocked us both down momentarily, and then chased us into the adjacent shower room. Sometimes if I look at the door leading to the shower room at the right angle, I can still feel the heat of that fire tornado. I can still feel the adrenaline and panic of not knowing what had happened to our teammates or how we were going to get out of that mess.

I'm unaware that my hair is falling out of it's usually neat ponytail, and strands of fine blonde hair are tickling my face. I blow it away, only for it to fall into my eye and block part of my vision. I see Wally leaning forward in my peripheral vision, and feel his hand touch my cheek as he moves the hair behind my ear.

"I'm glad it was you," he says.

My brows come together as I look back at him. That strange look is still in his eyes, only now it's more intense. It's a look of… happiness, gratefulness, and a mixture of emotions and things I have no clue about. "What do you mean?" I ask. What did I do?

"I'm glad it was you who joined the team, instead of Red Arrow," his words are so filled to the brim with sincerity that I have no choice but to know he means what he says. And it's probably the sweetest thing anyone's ever told me. "You're a better teammate than he could've ever been." Especially considering he would've never really been their teammate.

I have nothing to say, no snarky comment, no sarcastic reply. Nothing. I don't even realize that his hand was still hovering next to my cheek, and now it's brushing against my skin again, his thumb making strokes down to my jaw line and back up.

See, I usually don't get easily self-conscious, or embarrassed, so I usually don't blush. Or, at least, I never notice myself blushing, if I ever do. But I never wind up in a situation that I think I might be blushing. But right now, I hope to God I'm not blushing. And if I am, please please PLEASE let Wally not see it. He'd probably call me out and turn it into a joke or something idiotic, which would totally and completely ruin the moment.

I'm so wrapped up in my worries and prayers and freaking self-consciousness that I realize a second too late that Wally is leaning closer and closer to me, his face mere inches from mine. What is he- Oh God, he's going to kiss me! Oh God, oh God, _that_ was the look in his eyes! Damn it, why am I so stupid, so blind? How could I not see it? I feel like an idiot!

What do I do? Do I lean back? Run away? Kiss him? Meet him half way? Wrap my arms around his neck and crush my lips on his (God, _that_ would make me seem desperate)? Why can't I think straight? Does he like me? Well, obviously, or else he wouldn't be this close to kissing me. Question is, do I like him back? Didn't I consider him my friend before? Clearly he doesn't want to be just friends. Do _I_ want us to be just friends? Do I actually want something more? Oh, for the love of God, just stop thinking and kiss him!

This all flashes through my head in an instant as Wally comes within centimeters of my face. I feel his breath on my skin, and already the warmth of his body heat, a few degrees higher than the normal human body temperature due to his metabolism, takes over and invites me in.

His thumb is caressing my cheek, his fingers wrapped around the back of my neck, and our lips meet. For a second I think he might break it off right away. But he doesn't. I all but melt into the kiss. My hands slowly find their way up to his neck, and his free hand pulls me closer to him by the waist. I don't know how he managed to pull me even closer in this awkward sitting position. His fingers spread out over my bare hip, sending warm tingles everywhere his skin made contact with mine.

It's kind of hard to explain, but after a few intoxicating moments, I can almost feel the kiss breaking off. Like, I'm anticipating the departure, knowing that it's coming, but I slow it down, postponing it so I can have this moment a bit longer. For a moment, I forget everything. Everything, except for Wally.

It's strange, usually I rely on punching things and taking people out to relieve my stress, but most of the time it's always still there afterwards, haunting me. And yet what hours of training, working out, and causing low-life bums physical pain can accomplish, Wally can accomplish with a ten-second kiss. It's fun being a girl, huh?

He breaks it off quicker than I anticipate, and before I can blink my eyes open, speeds off out of the room, leaving me sitting there with my hands dangling in thin air. I blink a couple times, trying to process what had just happened. Did he really just… run away? Maybe I need to rethink who the self-conscious one in that situation was.

"Did you see Wally come through here?" I ask Robin and Zatanna, who I found lounging on the couch together in the common room not a second ago. I had put on my Reebok sweatshirt before I left the gym on my search for the speedster, so I didn't feel so exposed in case I ran into my other teammates.

"I think he came in here just a second ago," Robin replies, stroking a non-existent beard, "But I'm not quite sure…"

Zatanna rolls her eyes at him and informs me, "He ran in here, grabbed something out of the fridge, and ran out, all in a matter of three seconds."

"Aw, you made it too easy," Robin complained to his not-so-secret crush, "that's no fun."

"Try the gust rooms," She ignored the little troll, still addressing me, "that's the way it looked like he was heading."

I give her my thanks and head for that direction.

_Hey, Megan, _I think telepathically to my Martian friend.

_Yeah, Artemis? What's up?_

_Tell Robin he should just ask her out already. He'll know who I mean._

_I think I know who you mean, too. Alright, I'll tell him._

A moment later, her voice is back inside my head. _He says 'The kettle will ask her out when the pot asks him out.' Artemis, I'm a little confused._

_Don't worry about it. I'll explain later when this is all sorted out. Oh, and can you sense where Wally is? _I want to make sure Zatanna's guess was right and I'm not heading for a dead end.

Another second passes by. _He's in the guest bedroom next to Conner's room._

_Thanks!_

_No problem._ I can almost here her smirking as she draws out her words, almost suggestively. Sometimes I wonder what those Earth sitcoms she watched on Mars taught her…

I all but sprint down the halls, and skid to a stop at the door. The door isn't open, but somehow I know he's in there.

"Wally," I call. No answer. "Wally, c'mon, I know you're in there."

The doors usually open automatically when you step up to them, unless whoever is inside purposely locked it from a control panel on the wall.

I radio Robin (we always have our coms in, just in case), and speak quietly, turned away from the door, so Wally can't hear me. "Rob, how fast can you get to the guest rooms?"

"As fast as you can say 'Turn around'."

It takes me all of a second and a half to figure out what he means. I turn around to see him standing right beside me.

"How did you-"

"I figured if he was in one of these rooms, he would lock the door, and you would need my expert skills." I offer a smile in thanks as he brings up the holographic control panel and hacks into the control system of the door. In less than ten seconds, the door slides open, and I see Wally laying face down on the bed.

"Thanks, Robin," I say a bit loudly, announcing my presence.

"I figured you'd get Mr. Hacks-a-lot to unlock the door," Wally grumbles as he peels himself off the bed and speeds over to the doorway to glare at his best friend. He can barely look at me when he speaks, "Artemis, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, and if you kind of hate me right now, or want to punch me in the face or something, I don't blame you. I wasn't thinking and I was stupid and I promise if you don't feel that way I'll keep my distance and-"

"Oh, shut up," I grab him by the front of his shirt and pull him to me, wrapping my arms around his neck again as we kiss for the second time, putting a lot more passion into this one. I had taken him by surprise, so it takes a few seconds for him to get his bearings and snake his strong arms around my waist. Never thought he'd be the slow one.

"I'm… ganna… go now," I hear Robin say awkwardly, drawing his words out slowly as he backs away. I don't look, but I think he does his ninja thing and disappeared down the hallway.

At the moment, I don't care where the trolling mini-bat is. I don't care who my father or my sister is. I don't care what Red Arrow is. All I care about is who I am, and who Wally is, and where we are, and what we're doing right now.

I angle my head to deepen the kiss, and Wally pulls me tighter to him, his hands going underneath my sweatshirt to hold my bare waist.

Of all the things revealed, this is the one I'm most happy and relieved about.


End file.
